actinic
/ækˈtɪn ɪk/adjective
actinic is an adjective meaning “Related to radiation; used most often in reference to light, especially in the ultraviolet range” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled A-C-T-I-N-I-C, and it appears about once in every 13 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does actinic mean?
adjective
- 1
Related to radiation; used most often in reference to light, especially in the ultraviolet range.
- 2
Harsh and bright, especially blindingly so.
- 3
Caused by extensive exposure to ultraviolet light.
In medicine, actinic keratoses usually occur in sundamaged skin and exhibit hyperkeratosis.
- 4
Of or relating to actinism, the range of photochemical effects produced by exposure to electromagnetic radiation, particularly sunlight.
- 5
Composed of actin.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce actinic?
- /ækˈtɪn ɪk/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-actinic.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
How common is actinic?
Actinic appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 109,062nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Actinic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense relating to actinism:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does actinic come from?
From Ancient Greek ἀκτίς, ἀκτῖν- (aktís, aktîn-, “ray”) + -ic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).